30 minutes later I was still trying
to figure out the email address the recording was uttering every
60 seconds if you were in a long queue.. something about goodies
prizes dot com

Surely this wasn't right.. I thought
I was calling Xerox?

I hung up when my ear went to sleep

I rang my supplier.

"I'll get you their email address"

He put me on hold and I was regaled
by a recording telling me how wonderful were Xerox monitors

The email address was duly supplied

I e-mailed but got no reply

I rang my supplier again but no-one
was there

I sent an email to Xerox complaining
about their poor after sales service

I rang the call centre again but they'd
all gone home

First thing this morning at 9 dead I
rang and got through to a nicely spoken chap

"Expecting those in later this
week", he said..."I'll ring you when they come in"

"Have you had a run on them then?"

"I think it must have been a bad
batch that slipped through inspection"

Next I got a phone call from a young
lady at Xerox

"Don't complain to us, we don't
make Xerox monitors", she said

"You advertise them on your website",
I said

"We don't really make it clear
that we don't make them", she said

"Who makes them?"

"Proview makes them...they pay
us to badge them with the Xerox name"

"Who looks after the warranty?"

"A firm called Goodies Enterprises
holds the warranty contract"

"Xerox doesn't have anything to
do with Xerox monitors then?"

"No"

I sent an email to Trading Standards

"Proview are passing off their
monitors as Xerox monitors

Isn't that fraud?"

"Are you a resident of Hampshire?
"

"Ignore the Dorset address I'm
a genuine Hampshire resident"

I'm waiting now for a call about a replacement
monitor

And a call from Trading Standards.......

I actually chose the monitor because
Xerox is a household name

If I knew more about Proview, maybe
I would have bought a Proview monitor

If Xerox had made them would they have
had a bad batch?

Who knows?

Hopefully the new replacement is from
another (good) batch

After about a week, and having sent
another e-mail, a young lady from Goodies rang to tell me that
she understood I need a new monitor but they didn't have one
so I'd have to wait. She promised to call me as soon as one came
in.

As she didn't call me to give me any
good news I called my supplier to see if they knew why I couldn't
have a new monitor and to refresh me on the exact warranty terms
and conditions. The latter they never did...

As I didn't get a reply to my e-mail
I rang and was put through to the man in charge. Don't understand
he said, usually Goodies are jolly good. I'll contact them and
find out what's going on. Later today...

Later today came and went. I haven't
been able to get through yet he said.... I'll keep you posted
later today...

Today once again came and went... that
was Monday 21st August.

In the meantime I read my warranty papers.

We'll collect the faulty monitor straightaway
and send you a new one. Give us up to 72 hours...

Today makes 360 hours...

Five Days Later

I called Xerox Displays. This time they
didn't pretend to know anything and emailed me back with a copy
to Goodies Enterprises.

Next I got a second e-mail. This time
to Goodies but copied to myself. "Please contact this customer",
it said.

Well they didn't bother to contact me...
so after a few days..

I gave up and decided to buy a new monitor
and return the faulty one to my supplier for a full refund, because
after all they are responsible in law aren't they?

After a few phone calls and several
e-mails I'd ordered a new Vusys monitor and arranged for the
old Xerox to be collected.

My new Vusys arrived and worked OK.
True it doesn't have a hard glass front but in all other respects
it performs just the same as the Xerox... except it works properly.

And it was about £200 cheaper.

A day or to later and no-one had called
to collect the old monitor so back on the phone.

You have to organise the return yourself
was the comment.

Why is that when I have a 3-year on-site
warranty? You collect it.

"We're doing you a favour by taking
it back", was the response.

My full comments are unprintable. "Doing
me a favour. It's supposed to be guaranteed for 3 years. Put
me through to your boss".

The line went dead.

I rang again and asked to speak to the
Department head. Your helper just cut me off I said. When are
you going to collect my faulty monitor.

He was very nice. "Tomorrow without
fail", he said.

Later the next day the deliveryman called
to collect the Xerox.

"Didn't I just deliver that a few
days ago", he asked?

No that was a new one. This one's faulty.
He left.

Phew... this is an effort I thought.

It wasn't over though.

About a week or so later the deliveryman
knocked on the door.

Here's your monitor he said.

"That's strange", I replied.
You were supposed to deliver it to the supplier not me...

"They sent it back", he said,
and departed.

I looked at the paper sticking out of
a plastic wallet. "No fault found" it said.

I groaned. Surely it's faulty.

I removed the new Vusys and plugged
in the Xerox. It came on just like it used to do when it was
working.

It didn't go off. Maybe its 5 week rest
has done it a power of good I thought.

A few hours later it went off. Just
like it did 5 or 6 weeks ago.

I switched it off then on again. It
came on. Just like it did the first time it went wrong.

The next day it worked for 3 hours before
going off and refusing to come back on again.

I removed it and repacked it. The Vusys
went back on the desk and I composed an e-mail.

Why did you return my faulty monitor
I asked....?

Please let me know when your deliveryman
will call so I can plan to be in...

It's now 22nd September. Goodies
haven't called and I still have the faulty Xerox monitor.

I went on holiday on Monday 25th September
and of course everything happened while I was away.

On the Wednesday a chap rang the doorbell
and asked if he could have the old Xerox monitor. My wife handed
it to him and he stuck a label on it, handed her a nice new package
and departed. The old one was in a box carrying the address of
my supplier and it was them I was expecting to collect it as
promised. It wasn't my supplier who collected the old monitor
however it was a man from Goodies.

I'm looking at the new one at this moment,
and it seems to work OK. It's nicer than the Vusys, which is
now in the hands of my son who wanted a cheap flat screen as
he didn't really have space for his old 17" CRT model.

Let's hope the new model is more reliable
than the last one!

I wasn't impressed with any of the firms
concerned with this saga, not least my supplier who didn't even
bother to answer any of my recent emails.